Fellowship hike: students criticise date of implementation

The recently announced hike in research fellowships by the UGC has drawn some flak from the student community.

While research scholars said they “appreciated” the 55 per cent hike — a long-pending demand — they criticised the date of implementation announced by UGC (December 1, 2014), which they said differed from the Department of Science and Technology’s promise of October 1, 2014).

While students demanded a retrospective hike from April 2014, the UGC’s decision to implement the hike from December 1 “is highly condemnable,” said Pankaj Jain, secretary of Academic Affairs, Students’ Council, IISc.

There is no clarity on several fellowships such as Maulana Azad National Fellowship, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste and Tribes, CSIR fellowship, and the fellowship for IITs, NITs, IISc and IISERs, he said in a press note to the media.